Media Construction of the Middle East TEACHER GUIDE
FREEDOMFIGHTERS ORTERRORISTS
Unit 4: Militant Muslims and the U.S. Lesson 4: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists
LESSON OBJECTIVES will review Afghanistan’s history from 1978-2003. Students will understand the shifting historical contexts for the U.S. views of the mujahidin, during Students the Cold War and after 9/11. Students will recognize the power of words to bias impressions. will analyze credibility, bias and truth in documentary film. Students
VOCABULARY & CONCEPTS 9/11 covert operation Mullah Omar al-Qaeda historical context Osama bin Laden blowback jihad Operation Enduring Freedom CIA madrassas Pushtun Cold War mujahidin
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Taliban stingers war on terrorism
MEDIUM Video clips from two documentary films: The Battle for Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom: America Fights Back (Total running time: 9 min, 37 sec)
MATERIALS NEEDED Unit 4, Lesson 4 documentary video clips from DVD or Web site Student Worksheet(pg. 6-7) for analyzing clips (one per student) Teacher Answer Sheet(pg. 8-10) for decoding web pages
TIME 40 minutes
LESSON STEPS 1. PresentIntroduction to the Lesson(pg. 2-3) to the class. 2. DistributeStudent Worksheetfor logging the clips. 3. Play the video clips while students log their answers. 4. Lead students through a decoding of the video clips usingTeacher Answer Sheet. 5. Discuss bias in documentary films usingFurther Questions(pg. 3) andAdditional Information(pg. 3-4).